Side lamp for automobiles



March 25, 1930. H. H. OETJEN 1,751,751

SIDE LAMP FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed July 13, 1928 Patented Mar. 25, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT oEricE HOWARD I-I. OETJEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO ELECTRIC MANU'- FACTURING CO., A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS SIDE LAMP FOR AUTOMOBILES "Application mea July 1a,

My invention relates to electric lamps of the general class in which access to the lamp e bulb is secured by detaching the lens-carrying front of the casing from the body of the casing, such lamps being-.employed (for example) as side lamps on automobiles. Generally speaking, the object of my invention includes providing a simple and inexpensive lamp casing in which the rearwardly extending exterior portion of the lens ring canV be flush with the mouth end portion of the body, in which the joint between the lens ring and the body is effectively sealed against the entrance of dust or moisture, in which novel and inexpensive arrangements are employed both for securing the lens to the lens ring and for releasably securing the entire lens front (or door) of the lamp to the lamp, and in which a portion of the securing means is detachably connected tothe lens front.

In lamps of this class, it has heretofore been customary to provide either the lamp body or the lens ring, or both of these casing parts with radial (or approximately radial) flanges, thereby increasing the oost of manufacture and making it difficult to secure an adequate seal at the juncture of these parts, andalso interrupting the contour of the casingby the conspicuousness of a seam or flange at this juncture.4 It also has heretofore been customary to interpose screws or other latching means between the lens ring and a forward portion of the lamp body for securing these parts to each other, so that the exposed parts of the latching means have also been conspicuous and apt to detract from the appearance of the lamp.

To overcome these objections, my invention aims to provide al lens ring which will partly abut endwise against the mouth end of the lamp body, thereby avoiding the need of the previously employed flanges, and which also will telescope partly into the mouth end of the lamp body to center the lens ring with respectto the body and to seal the joint between these parts. My invention also aims to provide effective and easily connected or released means for anchoring the lens front to the rear end of the lamp body, aims to make a portion of these anchoring 1928` Serial No.. 292,353.

means detachable from the lens front, and aims to provide simple means for securing the lens to the lens ring.

More particularly, my invention aims to provide an anchoring connection including a stirrup adapted to be retracted by a screw, the stirrup being interl'ooked with the lens ,ring and adapted to be removed from the body with the lens ring. My invention also provides simple means for holding the stir rup in alinement with a screw connecting the stirrup with the rear end of the lamp body, and means whereby the interlocking of the stirrup with the lens ring can be effected or released without the use of tools when these parts are removed from the lamp body.

Further and also more detailed objects will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which F ig. lis a central, vertical and longitudinal section through an automobile side lamp embodying my invention.

F ig. 2 is a fragmentary central and horizontal section through the lens ring and the connecting yoke of the lamp of Fig. l, with the anchoring screw and portions of the lamp body shown in dotted lines. V

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary interior elevation of the liner of the lens ring, showing the positioning of one of the lens-retaining wire clips.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation taken from the rear of the liner when the lamp body and the yoke are detached from the lens front of the lamp. j

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken along the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlargement of the forward portion of the section of the yoke in Fig. 2.

In one of its immediate commercial applications, the lamp construction of my invention is particularly suited for so called bulletshaped lamps in which the contour of the V lamp body is continued uninterruptedly in Hence I am illustrating my invention in such an embodiment, although I do not wish to be limited to its use in connection with any particular shape of lamp.

In the illustrated type, the forwardly open lUll lamp body 1 is cup shaped and conoidal and has in its rear end an axial recess formation 2 for housing the head of a screw 3 which extends forwardly into the body through a perforation in the bottom of this recess formation. The lamp body also has a second perforation (here shown at its bottom) through which the usual wires extend to a lamp socket 4 clinched to the lamp body, with both the socket and its associated lamp bulb 5 supported considerably forward of the recess formation 2.

The lens front of the lamp includes a lens ring having the rear ond of its peripheral portion 6 abutting against the mouth end of the cup shaped body, and having this peripheral portion formed in smooth continuation of the contour of the lamp body. Mounted within this peripheral lens ring portion 6 and rigidly secured to it (as by soldering) is a tubular liner 7 which projects rearwardly into the mouth end of the lamp body and which has its rearwardly projecting portion fitting the said mouth end so as to center the lens ring on the lamp body.

rIhe lens ring has the usual annular front 6B through the bore of which the diametrically contracted forward portion of the lens 8 projects.

To connect the lens ring with the anchoring screw 3, I provide a yoke, 9 through the bight of which the screw is threaded and which has the forward ends of its fork arms secured to the liner 7, so that the lens front together with the yoke can be detached from the lamp body as a unit. To provide for this without employing permanent fastening elements, I form interlocking portions on the yoke arms and the liner, thereby permitting the yoke to be attached to the liner-equipped lens ring after the latter' has been plated.`

For example, I provide each arm of the yoke near its free end with a perforation 10 and show the liner as having forwardly and inwardly directed fingers 11 projecting respectively through the perforations 10 in the two yoke arms. By making the yoke of resilient metal and initially forming it so that its arm tips will spread to a greater distance than the bore of the liner, I cause the yoke arm portions back of the fingers 11 to bear radially of the lamp against the bore of the liner while the extreme tip portion 9A of the yoke arm engages the outer face of the adjacent finger 11.

Then I also desirably provide the liner with formations engaging opposite edges of each yoke arm to prevent the yoke from rocking upon the liner, and for that purpose am here showing the liner as having two additional ngers 12 which also are inwardly directed and which are spaced by a distance corresponding closely to the width of the adjacent yoke arm. These companion fingers 12 desirably are also forwardly directed, so

that each pair of these fingers can serve effectively for anchoring the oppositely directed arms 13 of one of the resilient wire clips which det achably secure the lens 8 to the lens ring.

Each of these clips has its bight 13A connected by recurved bends 13B to the arms 13, the clip being so formed that the bight will be in a plane at right angles to the axis of the lamp when the bight engages aA rear face portion of 'the lens. On a prismatic lens I desirably provide rearwardly open recess 8B (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5) approximating the shape of the said bight, so thatedges of each recess will engage the bight to prevent the `lens from rotating in the lens ring.

lith the lamp thus constructed, the lamp body and the lens ring (with the liner soldered into it) can conveniently be separately plated or otherwise finished before any other `parts are connected to them. The lens is then slipped into the lens ring and each wire clip has its arms snapped in front of the adjacent fingers 12 on the liner, after which the yoke is slightly compressed radially and snapped into interlocking engagement with the fingers 11 on the liner. This simple manual assembly makes a rigid unit of the entire lens front and the yoke, so that the bight of the yoke can readily be swung over the lamp bulb and the lens ring can be abutte-d against the mouth of theV lamp body with the rearwardly projecting portion of the tubular liner telescopically socketed in the mouth end portion of the lamp body. The screw 3 is then insertedv through the rear of the lamp body and threaded into the yoke, thereby drawing the yoke and the lens front rearwardly until the rear end of the lens ring tightly engages the mouth end of the lamp body.

lVhen my lamp is thus assembled, the snug endwise fit of the lens ring against the lamp body affords an inconspicuous joint such as cannot be obtained in a construction employing one or more radial flanges at this juncture, since the rounding of the flanges at their connections to other parts always is conspicuous. Moreover, the liner seals the joint, so as to exclude dust and moisture effectively. At the same time, the mere detaching of the screw 3 permits the lens front and yoke to be detached from the body instantly if the lamp bulb or the lens needs to be replaced.

The only tool required is a screwdriver forr manipulating the screw, and in practice a-v silver dime is ample even for this.

Vith the liner formed of thin metal, which is ample for the socketing connection to the lamp body and for thefingers 12, the yoke latching fingers 1l might be apt to bend when the screw 3 is tightened, as the rearwardpull on the yoke will tend to bend these fingers 11 inwardly of the lamp. To avoid this, I preferably provide each yoke arm with a stiffening finger 14, formed to afford the perforation 10 through which the adjacent latching finger 11 on the liner projects, and dispose this stifening finger 111 so that the latching finger 11 on the liner will bear atwise against its forward face as shown in Fig. 2. Thus arranged, a strain tendingrto bend the latching fingers 11 will be resisted both by the stiness of the latter and by the rigidity of the stiffening fingers 14 on the yoke which desirably is of thicker material than the liner, thereby preventing a bending` of the latching fingers on the liner even if the screw 3 is unduly tightened.

By securing the yoke to the lens front and mounting the lamp socket independently of the connection of the yoke to the lamp body, I avoid the objections encountered with lamp constructions in which a loosening of the yoke also loosens the socket. And by employing a resilient yoke releasably interlocked with the lens front, I permit a ready detaching of the yoke in case the lens ring needs replating or when a broken lens is to be replaced. When the lens front is being attached or detached, the alining formations on it (here pictured as the same fingers which anchor the lens-holding wire clips) hold the yoke in its normal relation to the lens front, so that the-yoke cannot swing about its connection to the lens front, thereby avoiding a possible breakage of the lamp bulb. Moreover, the connections to the yoke involve no exposed portions ex cept the end of the screw-head, so that they do not interrupt or mar the appearance of the lamp, while the projecting of the liner past the juncture of the two metal casing portions affords an effective seal.

However, while I have illustrated and described my invention in an embodiment including desirable shapes and arrangements of various parts, I do not wish to be limited to the details of the construction and arrangement thus disclosed, since modifications could obviously be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a lamp of the class described, a forwardly open body, a lens ring having its peripheral portion abutting endwise against the mouth end of the body, a tubular liner secured to the inner face of the peripheral lens ring portion and having two circumferentially spaced and inwardly directed fingers, a forwardly open fork having its arms respectively interlocked with the said fingers, and a screw connecting the rear end of the body with the bight of the fork, each arm of the fork having a stiffening finger normally disposed adjacent to and behind one of the fingers on the liner to prevent la iiexing of the liner finger by the rearward pull of the yoke when the screw is tightened.

2. A lamp casing comprising a forwardly open body, a lens ring having a tubular rear jecting rearwardly beyond the lens ring and extending telescopically into the body portion to aline the lens ring with the body, a

` lens associated with the lens ring and smaller in diameter than the said rear end portion; two circumferentially spaced, forwardly and inwardly directed projections on the liner, and a resilient member interposed between the said projections and a rear portion of the lens forclamping the lens to the lens ring, the lens ring having a portion in which parts of the resilient member are socketed to cooperate with the said projections in holding the resilient member in predetermined position with respect to the lens ring.

3. In a lamp of the class described, a forwardly open body, a lens ring having its peripheral portion abutting endwise against the mouth end of the body, a tubular liner secured to the inner face of the peripheral lens ring portion and having two circumferentially spaced and inwardly directed fingers, a forwardly open fork having its arms respectively interlocked with the said fingers, and a screw connecting the rear ends of the body with the bight of the fork, the liner having inwardly directed formations adjacent to and at opposite sides of each 'fork arm for preventing the said arms from rocking about the said fingers.

4. In a lamp of the class described, a forwardly open body, a lens ring having its peripheral portion abutting endwise against the mouth end of the bod a tubular liner secured to the inner face of the peripheral lens ring portion and having two circumferentially spaced and inwardly directed iingers, a forwardly open fork having its arms respectively interlocked with the said fingers, and a screw connecting the rear end 0f the body with the bight of the fork, the liner having inwardly directed projections adjacent to the fork arms for preventing the said arms from rocking about the said fingers, a lens associated with the lens ring, and resilient members interposed between the lens and the said projections for clamping'vthe lens to Y the lens ring.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, July 10th, 28.

HOWARD I-I. OETJEN. 

